I typically keep my biological bookworm son’s out of my blogging space for multiple reasons, but this post has to include them. Bear with me as I share my graphic, graphic novel find of the month !

My now 14 year old son, began to read very​,​very early through no fault of his own, but that of our family and the presence of more printed material than furniture. Food was in abundance as well, but that can be cast aside for now. Riz has an older sibling, Tahir , then 9 years , who had just been gifted an Annual subscription of Beano.

Yes, my boys cut their teeth on that infernal Dennis and Gnasher and The Bash Street Kids.

Riz was reading before we knew it, he was playing pranks and using language that was ‘foreign’ to his rather ‘ dry’ parents and only known to his older more literate brother. I share this here, because on reflection it was the start of Riz’s journey with the graphic and the subtle ‘dark’ . He has loved graphic books ever since and while he reads almost anything, he gravitates to the genre of graphic novel above all . Our home is rather populated with the graphic ever since, in more ways than one!

So, I enter the scene as a reading mother who does not get the genre as he does and we keep having soulful discussions about why I won​’​t read One Piece or Sket dance and keep choosing text based books. I have tried but never felt stirred the way Riz does at the end of a graphic novel. Many have moved me and prompted me to recommend, review and share them, but…

Our new Summer collection, 2015 at Bookworm, includes This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki.

I get this book ! I am drawn to the complexities, the emotional dilemmas and to every character probably because we live in a beach / tourist state and the unfamiliar characters are becoming familiar and every one finds a space in Goa like they seem to do in Awago Beach, the setting for this novel.

I have a graphic novel under my belt that is so rich , so complex, has dark and bright patches ( literally and figuratively) and that I would urge EVERY parent to put in the hands of a pre-teen this summer.

Brilliant, complex, coming-of- age and opens spaces for so much that is happening in our children’s lives and in ​ This One Summer we can relive and relieve ourselves of these private dilemmas and talk through the book.

Come over to Bookworm, borrow This One Summer and read this one , this one summer !​

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Thanks for the article on the Graphic Novel, Sujata. It brought me back to my youth. I can remember vividly how teachers discouraged us from reading comics. I could never understand the reason and of course I didn’t obey. The Beano, The Dandy, The Hotspur, The Champion, The Adventure, Film Fun etc were available in those far off pre-TV days. I devoured them. There was a gradation from the “mostly illustrated” to the more literary with its “follow-up” stories. As a ten year old I brought joy to my teacher’s face by using descriptive words like “lithe” and “agile”. I never disclosed that they were among the words picked up In those dreadful comics! It was a short step to the illustrated classics so I had a head start before immersing myself in Scott’s novels (among others). it was a sad satisfying day when I finished a book. I wanted to continue my association with the characters conjured up and yet rejoiced in “meeting ” them. My enjoyment would have been diluted had I not been educated by the graphics regarding period costume, jousting protocols and such things as the portcullis. I’m happy to have tasted the forbidden fruit of the despised comics. Every best wish for your summer programme.